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Nov. 2-11

Various locations

The theme of the festival this year is “play,” and you might have already noticed instructions on downtown, Broad Ripple and other sidewalks for mini-competitions. These Gamespots are just the beginning of Spirit & Place events. You can create your own musical instruments Nov. 3 at Big Car Service Center, see NPR’s “Only a Game” host Bill Littlefield Nov. 4 at the Athenaeum, play 19th-century party games at Conner Prairie Nov. 6, or try life-size board games at Garfield Park on Nov. 10. For a full lineup of events—and for a map of Gamespots—click here.

Nov. 4-13

Various locations

The grab-bag fest is themed this year around the body, which means everything from a conversation with tattoo artist Lyle Tuttle at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and Butler University dancers at City Market to an opera discussion followed by insight from a psychologist and a mortician.

As part of the fest, I’ll be moderating a discussion on “Kurt Vonnegut and the Human Body” with writers Dan Wakefield, David Hoppe and others. For details and a full schedule, click here. 

A Whiteland family decked out its house with a light display that can be seen from blocks away. The Underwoods used about 80,000 blue LED lights to create a Colts Christmas spectacle. It took the family two weeks and about 80 hours to deck the halls. The family is asking everyone who drives by the house at 76 Pin Oak Court to donate a non-perishable food item for a local food bank.

Nov. 6-15
Various locations
First, you are forgiven for being confused about what exactly the Spirit & Place Festival is. With a theme that changes each year and with more than 40 events (which often sound like graduate theses, i.e. “An Eye to the World: Photography as Transformation” and “The Geography of the Sacred: How We Sanctify Space”), it’s very easy to be confused.

Combine that with the fact that events are held at dozens of different locations and you’ll understand why an alleged refocusing of the Spirit & Place Festival this year hasn’t helped much in the clarity department.

Still, there are lots of promising events—if you are willing to search for them. Opening weekend includes “Ordinary Space to Sacred Place,” a Nov. 6 discussion of ways to transform your environment, held at St.Luke’s United Methodist Church. Panelists include singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer and former Mayor Bart Peterson. Want something a little more experimental? “Caddy! Caddy! Caddy!” is choreographer/dancer Oguri’s response to the writings of William Faulkner. It’s Nov. 7 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s Toby Theatre.

The $3 Bill comedy troupe lightens things up with a.MUSE.ment@theLibrary on Nov. 9 at the Central Library. Also on the 9, bestselling author Bill McKibben visits IUPUI to talk about sustainable communities.

And local city-planner types have high hopes for “Pecha Kucha: The Next Indianapolis,” a Nov. 12 event described as “Fight Club meets PowerPoint.” Presenters will compete for $10,000 grants to pay for projects that turn various Indianapolis locations into more inspiring places. It’s at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

For details on these and other Spirit & Place events, click here.